Catch-up Post?

I was about to start this post saying I would try to do a few over the next couple of days so we can catch-up on things. Now that I think about it, I might as well do an all-out catch-up post. We will see how much I ramble before committing to the full catch-up.

So - we were two weeks behind when we posted a week ago. That puts us on Ethan's first trip to B-town.



We loaded up the family truckster on Thursday night and headed down to Bloomington with a stop-over at grandma and grandpa's in Lafayette. We got down to B-town on Friday around 1pm and headed to Laughing Planet for a burrito. Does anyone have a recipe for blackbean hummus? They have a good one at the Planet and we have some blackbeans from the farm - makes sense to grab a recipe. We did some shopping and showed E-man some of the campus.

We were joined at the Courtyard by Ali's parents and sister around 6:45 that night. The reason for the trip was to celebrate the graduation of Ali's cousin Katie from IU. Katie is doing something that I didn't know could happen and I think its really cool - she is completing her student teaching in Ireland. Not too shabby. So, we went over to the McArdle's and their party for the rest of the evening. As no trip to B-town is complete without it, we hit up Pizza Express for two bags of breadsticks on our way back to the hotel.

We awoke Sunday morning and it was snowing heavily. We took E-man out for some pictures at the Sample Gates - his first taste of snow if I am not mistaken. Lunch at the Village Deli and then we headed north to Zionsville.

We went to Z-ville to get our pictures taken with our friend/photog Nathan (see link to the left). We met in downtown Z-ville and it was decked out for the holidays - so cute. At least that is what Ali would say. After some pics downtown, we headed back to Shannon and Mike's for some more torture, er, I mean, pictures.

We spent the night at the Barron's and when we woke up the car didn't start - didn't even budget. We even had my Uncle Mike over to figure out what Mike Barron and I were doing wrong. It ruined a brunch with the Connolly's and we ended up leaving the car there for the better part of the week. Luckily, my mom and dad were able to come down from Lafayette to pick us up and we drove my mom's car home.

And that's the Bloomington trip. And I have realized that if anyone is still reading this, they probably need a break and I will not do a full catch-up post. Maybe the Green Lake holiday party later today, maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are the pictures from Bloomington-Zville.

The Twins Are Here

Congratulations to our friends Sarah and Chris Nickoloff. The twins were born at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday! While we are still awaiting on the names, weights, etc., we are thrilled that the twins are here and are doing well. We can't wait to meet baby boy and baby girl Nickoloff and could not be happier for Sarah and Chris. Congratulations to the Nickoloff and Neal families!

Godfather the Third

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Ali, Ethan and I left Chiggy for DC as Addy's baptism was that Sunday. As Ali said before, E-Man did very well on the flight - although I think he was annoyed at the lady sitting next to me trying to talk to him.

We got in late on Friday night, so E-Man didn't get to see Addy until the next day. Saturday morning was spent by the guys in the front yard trimming a tree and swapping Autumn decorations for Xmas decorations. We watched a little football before all eight of us headed to the mall. Addy and E had their pictures taken with the big man to whom both kids were indifferent.

We also had a quick visit with my cousin Becky, her hubby and kids. They were on their way back to ATL from Pennsylvania.

Best story from the mall is when a high school girl came up to me and asks a question. Her: "Do you mind if I ask where you got your sweater?" Me: "Sure, it's from Lord and Taylor - Ben Sherman is the brand." Her: "Cool, we were looking for something like that for my dad."

I solemnly believe her dad is one the most hip guys around D.C.

The baptism went off without a hitch on Sunday morning. As I am a professional godfather, I am sure I was a great benefit to the process. It was great that I got to see my grandpa and my aunt Ruthie who came down from Pennsylvania. E-man enjoyed hanging out with them both. He told me.

My grandpa brought E and Addy a really cool gift that you can see in the pictures. It is a piggy bank that he made by building a wooden box (with nice dove-tail joints) around an old post office box door. E-man's door dates to 1956 (if I remember correctly as its posted on the inside of the door) and has a combination lock to get into the bank. Its just a really cool bank that E will get to enjoy being from his great-grandpa (Pap-Pap as I call him.)

We flew home at 6am on Monday morning and E did well on the flight again. He must like flying as much as his dad.

HERE ARE PICS FROM THE WEEKEND.

ElephanToes

Shortly after Ethan was born we received the most adorable burp cloths from ElephanToes, a small home business run by Marcy Barkema. Since then, I have been meaning to do a post to endorse her ideas, talent and creativity. Not only does she make the cutest burp cloths, she also can do onesies, bibs, crayon rolls, and many other fabulous personalized items. Marcy and I hit it off right away while e-mailing back and forth. She and her husband are expecting in January and I am certain that little one will be outfitted with the best monogrammed items. So, if you are looking for a great, well crafted gift for friends with little ones, check out ElephanToes, you won't be disappointed. You can check out a lot of her designs here or see some of my favorites below!

Chatterbox Is Working

The video below should now be working. Sorry for the ignorance.

Flying High

Ethan enjoyed his first plane ride the Friday after Thanksgiving as we headed to Virginia to see Kelly, Jim, and Addy. He was a really good boy flying both ways. After a quick feeding, he went right to sleep and slept the entire way. Can't beat that! The flight was short, which was a perfect test for his first time on an airplane. We are looking forward to another trip as a family of 3!

Chatterbox

We have a lot to post from the past few weeks, Addy's baptism, the trip to Bloomington/Z-ville, etc. Hopefully we will have time to get all of those together this week. In the mean time, you can watch my digital short entitled "Chatterbox."

Enjoy.

Thanksgiving 2008

We hope everyone had a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year and this year was extra special as we celebrated Ethan's first Turkey Day. While this year was crazy and unexpected, we really have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. We have been blessed with great family and friends and a beautiful little boy that brings more joy to our lives than we could ever imagine.

Thankgiving celebrations kicked off a little early with dinner at my aunt and uncle's on Wednesday followed by a mini Crystal Lake bar crawl with Matt, my sister, Ben and my two dear cousins, Adam and Megan. We had to celebrate Megan's BIG 2-1 with a few drinks and lots of laughs. I was also able to catch up with some girls from high school that I have not seen in a while, which was great. We were up fairly early (not as early as we should have been....those 1:30 am nights really get you when you are 30) on Thursday to begin preparations for the big meal. My sister was in charge of "dressing" the turkey and while I don't think it was her favorite thing to do (see picture below) she did a great job. My sister, dad, and I hit Sterne's Woods for a quick walk and then headed back to get ready for company and dinner. Festivties started around 3 when the Livermore's, my grandma, and a few of my mom's friends joined us. After a few glasses of wine and some yummy appetizers, we sat down for dinner around 6. I absolutely love Thanksgiving dinner and this year did not disappoint. Everything was delicious! Ethan was extremely well behaved and enjoyed a little turkey in his own special way. We ended the evening with 3 great pies that Bev made and a visit from the McArdle's that included a fabulous bundt cake. Friday Matt, Ethan and I headed to Virginia (more on that in another post), but not before putting Christmas lights up at my mom and dad's to kick off the holiday season!

Here are all the pictures from Thanksgiving. I apologize for several duplicates, we were trying to capture some good Christmas card photos. A couple of my favorites though......

Off To Work I Go

I have officially started my first day of work...yep, sitting at my new desk right now in front of my new computer. I have to admit, I was feeling like a student on the first day of school; full of excitement, anticipation, and nerves. While leaving Ethan was extremely hard, I am glad to be here and looking forward to starting a new job.

As many of you know, I was presented with a great opportunity, shortly before Ethan was born, to work at Vienna Beef with my friend Carolyn. While I was not thrilled with the idea of going back to work, it was something that Matt and I decided was necessary and it seemed as though Vienna was the perfect place. They are kind enough to allow me work 3 days a week (Tuesday thru Thursday) and my job consists of easy entry level accounting while helping them with some analysis and special projects that had been put off for several months. Pretty much a perfect situation for having to go back to work.

So, here I am, on my first day! I have been introduced to pretty much everyone and they all seem wonderful. I think the anticipation leading up to today was much worse than actually leaving Ethan and starting my new job. It also helps to know that Ethan is in great hands with our lovely nanny, Carmen. By crazy circumstances, we are able to nanny share with a guy I went to high school with. So, not only will Ethan be learning a little Spanish from Carmen, he also has a new friend, Jackson. We feel really blessed to have such great opportunities like this fall into place. Thank you to everyone for the encouragement and support leading up to this day!

I will be back later today with posts about Thanksgiving, Ethan's first trip on an airplane, and Addy's baptism. I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day!

Da Bears

Yesterday we headed out to Cary to have lunch and watch the Bears with the Berndt's, the Glynn's and the Nickoloff's. It was so great to catch up with everyone and have all the little guys together. We are all greatly anticipating the birth of the Nickoloff twins and can't wait to introduce them to Alex, Ethan, and Keegan. I don't think I caught one second of the Bears game, but instead enjoyed great Tortilla soup that Jaime made, lots of laughs with the girls and tons of fun with the kiddos. Needless to say, the big boys spent most of the time watching the game and checking fantasy stats with quick breaks for some food and daddy daycare! Thanks Jaime, Mike, and Alex for a great afternoon! More pictures here if you so desire.

Check-Up

E man went to the doctor for his 4 and a half month check-up. Or maybe its his three month check-up. Everything we ever discuss at the doctor is discussed twice because development and growth-wise, we discuss as of his birth date as well as his due date.

Overall the visit went great up until the shots. Ethan's stats are as follows:

11 lbs, 5 oz which puts him in the 5th percentile for being born at the end of June. That shoots way up to the 20th percentile if you go off of babies born in mid-August.

24.25 inches which puts him in the 20th percentile for length - 75th percentile if off of due date.

15.75 inches head - I don't even know what this is - circumference? I don't know why it matters, but he is in the 5th percentile/15th percentile. All we know is that E will have a smaller melon than Gibson, Riebe and all of my other big-meloned friends.

E got four shots and it went a little worse than his last four. Kid screamed unlike anything we have ever heard from him. After about five minutes of screaming, he calmed down and was fine the rest of the night.

Everything else like motor skills and the sort seemed fine to the doc. We won't start rice cereal for a few more months.

That's about it.

Tuckered Out

I captured this picture of Ethan after running several errands Sunday afternoon. Do you think he was a little tired? Either that or quite bored since I had dragged (or is it drug) him all over the city in the freezing cold. I am currently on a mission to complete Ethan's nursery....geez, it has only been 5 months....so, I spent most of the weekend at Target, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Pottery Barn Kids gathering the last of what I need to complete his room/our guest room. Everything is almost hung and decorated so be on the lookout for pictures soon! Since Matt was at the Bears game on Sunday, Ethan had to be my companion, much to his dismay. I am sure he would have rather spent the afternoon curled up with his dad on the couch!

Longest Day Ever/Miranda Lambert

Here's the rundown on the trip home from St. Petes. My alarm went off at 6am St Pete time on Saturday - which was 7pm Chicago time Friday. I jumped on a 6am flight to Frankfurt. Luckily I fell asleep for about an hour and a half. Arrival in Frankfurt was 9am St Pete time, 7am Frankfurt time and 1am Chicago time. I chilled in the business class (which I think was actually the first class - they never checked my ticket) lounge for about three hours. I got on a 1015 am Frankfurt time, 615 am Chicago time flight and arrived at 230 pm Chicago time on Saturday which is 10pm St Petes time. That's the first half of the day - are you lost yet? By the way, I watched four movies on the flight to Chicago, no sleeping.

When I arrived in Chicago, Ali picked me up, we went home, I showered and we headed to Gibsons around 430pm. We were there until 8pm - 4am St Petes time (25 hours after I woke up.) At 845, Ali and I went to concert. We got home around 1215am and hit the sack around 1am (9am St Petes time.) So by my calculations, that's about 30 hours with roughly 1.5 hours of sleep, approximately 12 hours on a plane, 3 hours listening to country music and 3 hours in what I think was a first class airport lounge - trust me, the swankiness of this joint was unrivaled.

Now I wonder why I am sick.

On to the concerto.



Miranda Lambert. I guess I have had a sort-of crush on her for a couple of year's now. Ali knows this and is now close to embracing the fact. I tried to take Ali last year, but we couldn't get tickets. For the last two years Miranda has come to Chiggy to celebrate her birthday with two shows at the beginning of November. Why do I like her - I guess cause she sings about what she lives. A song called "Dry Town" is about her growing up in a dry town in Texas. I lived in a dry county in Texas while there - I had to join a "club" to purchase alcohol at a restaurant. I say she sings about how she lives and she lives a redneck life cause that's the way she likes it. I think she's kind of cute, so that might add to the allure as well.

Either way, Ali didn't know many of her songs before the concert, but now she listens to Miranda non-stop. That should tell you it was a great show. The show was at Joe's which if you've lived in Chicago you know is not a big place and it was general admission, so you can get as close to the stage as you want, as long as you pushed your way up. There are some photos HERE and I will try to upload a video or two tonight so you can get a little taste.

St. Petersburg

Sorry for the delay in posting about my trip to St. Petersburg, but I have been a bit under the weather since Monday. Not really sure what it is, but it cause me to miss work on Tuesday and I only do that about every other year.

St. Petersburg was great. If you didn't know, I left Sat Oct 25 and returned Sat Nov 1. USG opened a plant there a couple of years ago and it was their time to be audited. So I took my five Russian words over and got the job done. I am happy to report I am now up to 12 Russian words.

St. Petersburg is a very vibrant and photogenic city. At least I think it would be in the summer. It rained every day I was there - I did not see the sun the entire week. That was unfortunate, because it really seemed to be an awesome place. I only snapped a few photos on the Sunday I arrived. All photos are of the Church of Spilled Blood because that's as far as I walked in the rain with wet feet.

I spent most of the week working at the plant which was a normally harrowing 45 minute ride from the hotel. The traffic in St Petersburg has to be seen to be believed. Think right hand turn lane going three-wide into a two lane road.

The city itself was awesome. Even in the rain, there were so many people out walking down the main street, Nevsky Prospekt. Cafes and resturants were everywhere and always full. Most people spoke some English so my lack of Russian did not preclude me from ordering food and the like. When in doubt in the cafe at lunch, I would just have them lift the tops to all of the food trays and point at what I wanted.

On my last night, the plant manager took me on a quick tour by car - quick is relative, due to traffic we went about 10 miles in an hour and a half. At night, just about every building on a main street is lit up due to the city putting the lights on the buildings a few years ago. It looks like there is always something going on. The main city attractions, The Hermitage, St Peter and Pauls Fortress, various other palaces and the sort looked awesome at night - I just wish I could have gotten the camera and tri-pod out. I guess next trip (which will have to be in a summer month next time.)

Overall, a highly recommended visit for anyone who has never been to Russia. Next time I will make sure I go in the summer and take an extra day or two to see everything.

By the way, Lufthansa's business class kicks United's business class' ass. It's not a competition. A couple of the pictures are from the Lufthansa business class lounge in Frankfurt.

See all the pics HERE.

Halloween Weekend

Ethan had a great 1st Halloween and looked so cute in his costume, if I do say so myself. He didn't get to wear it nearly as long as I would have liked because the weather was just too gorgeous for Halloween and I picked the hottest fleece footed costume!

The weekend kicked off with my mom, sister, and Ben coming over Friday night for some yummy chili. We enjoyed the gorgeous night and about 20 trick or treaters. We had special visits from the 3 chicks (Abbie, Lauren and Ellie) that live below us and Amy, Patrick, and Lindsay Forebaugh. I love seeing all the kiddies dressed up so I was thrilled to have a lot more visitors than we did last year. I even used most of the 6 lb. bag of candy I bought. Thank goodness or I would be eating all the leftovers and believe me, that would not be a good thing!

Saturday my mom and I went for a long walk around the neighborhood. Can the weather be any nicer for the end of October/beginning of November? I am loving this! While I went to the airport to pick up Matt, my mom made her infamous Vidalia Onion Dip and Rice Krispie Treats (only this time we added Candy Corn and drizzled chocolate on top). Just a side note, I am so glad Matt is home from Russia....Ethan and I really missed him while he was gone. We then headed over to Gibson's for a Halloween party. Really, it was just an excuse for all of us to get together, have a few drinks, and dress up all the kiddos again. The costumes were so so cute and all the food was delicious. Thank you to the Gibson's for having us all over, I know it was a lot of work, especially with Laura not feeling well. After the party, Matt and I went to see Miranda Lambert (more on that in another post) and my mom and dad got to spend some quality time with Ethan (aka...babysitting!).

Sunday, Matt tried to catch up on some sleep and get over his jet lag, while I tried to get some things done around the house (tried being the key word in that sentence!). That evening, we had a dinner date with the Dill's and the Rice's. Katie really out did herself with a great Italian meal....Caesar salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and then apple crisp. It was so delicious (even if it was more like spaghetti and meatloaf!). Thanks to the Rice's for having us over for dinner....it was so much fun!

I have posted some of the images from the weekend, but you can see them all here. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!